Barbecue ovens have long been known and they universally provide means for subjecting meat to heat and smoke.
Difficulty has been experienced in the prior art in supporting the meat in such a manner as to receive maximum benefit from the smoke without being subjected to the danger of burning from the fire producing the smoke. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,722,883 issued Nov. 8, 1955 to C. A. Rignell and 3,498,211 issued Mar. 3, 1970 to T. H. Atkins illustrate prior attempts to prevent the meat from burning while imparting maximum smoke and flavoring to the meat. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,881,695 to Di Pietro, 3,524,403 to Treloar, 3,901,136 to Wilson, 4,064,796 to Jones and 3,967,547 to Sykes et al. The prior art as exemplified by Atkins and Sykes solves the problem by directing the greases from the meat away from the fire.
The prior art exemplified by Rignell also provides means to direct grease away from the fire comprising a thin metal sheet with small holes to intercept and vaporize the grease as it falls from the meat above the fire and vaporizes it to pass upwardly in a gaseous state and permeate the meat.